This week let's explore the intersection of true strength [not simply rigidity], balance and flexibility and what they have to do with resilience and responsiveness on all levels of our being.

From Lama Yeshe and Jack Kornfield with a bit of editing from me: If [we] expect [our] life to be up and down, [our] mind will be much more peaceful.Peace is born out of equanimity [upekshanam in Sanskrit - see Patanjali I.33] and balance. Balance [which requires inner strength] is flexibility, an ability to adjust graciously to change. Equanimity arises when [we begin by] accept[ing] the way things are....

In our yoga, we practice being present and embodying Presence - being fully engaged in and as Life as it unfolds one moment into the next. A riff on the teaching of Alan Watts:

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other [nor forceful pushing into the future]. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind [body, heart] open and wholly receptive.

Gratitude for everyone through history who has stood up for freedom and justice for all rather than acting solely from fear or what was good only for themselves and those "like" them. And gratitude for all of you who made this weekend's retreat of re-membering, reintegration and restoration such a success!

Let's continue exploring the felt-sense of being "at home" in and of ourselves. From Jack Kornfield...We can plant our seeds and trust. In this we find our center... plant seeds of compassion and let go into the spacious awareness that contains all things. Be here in the eternal present. Let this be your resting place, your safety, your home.

Let's continue exploring this practice of resting in the midst of the waves of life... We don't have to wait till it's quieter/less messy/less chaotic/less busy, till we've gotten everything accomplished, till we've taken care of everyone else, in order to rest in our true nature.... we can just settle into our still centre, right where we are, right now.

We're continuing from Jack Kornfield, but this week he offers a beautiful piece by Donald Babcock: Now we are ready to look at something pretty special. It is a duck riding the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf, as he cuddles into the swells. There is a big heaving in the [ocean], and he is part of it. He can rest while the [ocean] heaves because he rests in the [ocean]. Probably he doesn't know how large the ocean is. And neither do [we]. But he realizes it. And what does he do, I ask you? He sits down in it. He reposes in the immediate as if it were infinity - which it is. That is [spiritual practice], and the duck has it. How about you?

Part of our ability to be at peace, in ourselves, and in the world is a sense of "home" - a safe haven or feeling of inner resource inside ourselves. The Bhagavad Gita compares this to being like a storm lantern in which the glass protects the flame no matter how windy it is outside (or inside as the case might be).Here's this week's practice:

From Jack Kornfield [brackets are mine]: We can sense the ever-changing waves around [and inside] us, and breathe and relax [anyway]. We can rest in the eternal present, the still point [embodied, with wide open, multidirectional senses]. We can learn that no matter what happens, we are home.

All the best remembering yourself not just "at home" in yourself, but as home, whatever the day may bring! Namaste

Sometimes we misperceive "letting go" as something to do rather than something we can prepare for, create a space for, and then allow...

From Jack Kornfiled [brackets are mine]: What would we have to [notice, admit and] hold in compassion to be at peace right now? What would we have to let go of to be at peace right now? [without a requirement to let go]

Perhaps, it we are more honest with ourselves, a stance to adopt might be "what would I be willing to consider letting go"? or even "willing to be willing"?

Fall can be a time we get "out of balance" - busy schedules, blustery weather and temperature changes, family holidays, chaos and unkindness in the world at large. How can out practice help our minds to be clear so we can keep perspective, and see ourselves and others clearly and with compassion, even when challenge is required?

From Jack Kornfield and William Butler Yates, a bit of very yogic wisdom: With equanimity [upekshanam in Sanskrit] we can see clearly. We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather round us, that they may see their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer perhaps even a fiercer life because of our quiet.

Fall is a time of letting go - leaves falling, harvest coming off the vines and trees and out of the ground. There's a bittersweetness often in letting and a paradox that we cannot let go of what we don't fully meet. We can have an intention to let go, but it cannot be forced.

From Jack Kornfield: "To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion [and curiosity], things come and go on their own." As the Bhagavad Gita advises: The secret of human freedom is to act well, without attachment to results

What's the difference in your body, mind and heart between refusing to acknowledge or "making go away", and "letting go" by engaging, leaning in, allowing, and getting curious and "kindful". As one experiment, you might explore how the breath offers us a model of how letting go might happen...

This is not a passive path but it is hopefully one of responsiveness rather than reactivity. Coming from a peaceful, resourceful, resilient stance requires that we are centered and aware. That we are in contact with our witnessing Self, not simply the sensations we are noticing - however pleasant or noxious - or the other people or situations we are encountering - however pleasant or noxious ;-)

From Jack Kornfield: If [we] put a spoonful of salt in a cup of water it tastes very salty. If [we] put a spoonful of salt in a lake of fresh water the taste is still pure and clear. Peace comes when our hearts are open like the sky, vast as the ocean.

One way to practice this when we get caught in the waves of one of life's "salty" situations is to be aware of allowing the space around the heart to remain (or return to being) soft and spacious. Another is to ask ourselves the yogic inquiry question: Who is aware of this [sensation, thought, feeling, situation]? and sense into that before responding.

Welcome back for Fall session - hope your Summer was glorious. We spent our Summer classes with readings from Kabir (1440-1518) - I encourage you to read anything of his you can...

With the state of the world as it seems to be lately - an apparent renaissance of suspicion, xenophobia and devaluing of dialogue and inquiry - I'd like to offer a counterbalancing voice. So for the Fall we'll be focusing on Jack Kornfield's "The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace" (2002). Jack is a wise and compassionate longtime North American practitioner/teacher of mindfulness and insight meditation. He writes eloquently of the process and pitfalls of a spiritual/philosophical life, and invites us to imagine and step into our best, rather than our smallest, selves.

"To make peace we cannot ignore war, racism, violence, greed, the injustice and sufferings of the world. They must be confronted with courage and compassion. Unless we seek justice, peace will fail. Yet in whatever we do, we must not let war, violence and fear take over our own heart. Within each of us there is a silence as vast as the universe. We long for it. We can return to it."

See you in class!

Also FYI, only six spaces remaining in the November 10/11 restorative and yoga nidra "rest-shop" I'm offering with Jennifer Piercy - for more information and to register, see her websitehttp://www.sacredsleepyoga.com/events/